Fringe
by fan-nerd
Summary: Eren's latent powers are going to destroy him. In general, his friends agree that the problem must be dealt with, and fast. Jean learns to stop messing around and face this problem head on.
1. blank

a/n: Reading Schemata first is strongly recommended! Gotta be honest, this story sort of crept out of me and it's probably got a ton of errors. Please feel free to correct me if you see something that's a mess. As always, please enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Fringe**_

 _i: blank_

* * *

Armin is the one who starts the conversation.

"Don't you think that Eren's changed recently?"

Mikasa looks up from her book with a raised eyebrow. "How so?"

He levels blue eyes at her, exasperated. "I'm being serious, Mikasa."

She quietly picks up her cup of tea and hums. "A bit. It doesn't matter, though."

Her roommate sighs. "I know, you and I will love Eren no mater what. I'm just having a conversation about it. So we can…" after a pause, Armin continues, "acknowledge the changes, or something."

Several sips later, the dark-haired woman says, "…He has ice powers and gold eyes sometimes."

Armin huffs, "Mikasa."

Mikasa stalls before whispering, "He's changing. In more ways than one."

"Yes," the blonde breathes in relief. "But are the changes good? I can't sleep for worrying about it."

"How am I supposed to know?" Mikasa replies, annoyed.

"The powers could only be the start of it."

She glares for a moment, and then softens once she sees how pale her friend's face is. "You have some idea about what's going on?"

"Maybe."

"Your hunches are usually correct. Tell me."

"It's not good news."

Mikasa sternly responds, "Tell me anyways."

/ /

Jean tentatively throws a leg into Eren's lap and receives a scathing glare for his efforts. It encourages him. "Fucking _relax_."

"You're getting dirt on my pants."

"How terrible."

Eren stands up and yanks Jean's head back by his hair. "Stop playing around."

Although it's meant to intimidate him, all it does is make Jean riled up in a way that was not at all the brunette's intention. "You know, some people might take that whole hair-pulling thing the wrong way." He smirks. "Or the _right_ way. What's your stance, Jaeger?"

He drops his grip immediately, grinding his teeth. "Jean."

Jean turns around and slings his arms across the back of the couch. "Why are you so against this?"

With a stern, blood-curdling gaze, Eren replies, "You don't feel anything."

Between obnoxious snorts, Jean says, "Oh my god, you're one of those."

" _What?_ " The shorter male whirls around his heel, seething.

"You think we can't fool around unless we're _in love_ or something."

Eren roundhouse kicks Jean in the face.

/ /

"Changing?" Carla murmurs. The man nods. "I've noticed some positive things, but…"

Armin chuckles. "Sorry, I didn't mean the emotional changes."

"So then, you _do_ think he's changed in that regard," the woman comments. The blonde sheepishly smiles in response. "Alright, I'll stop teasing you, since you seem a bit pressed. Go on, please."

"I think the increased powers, his fluctuating control, and his _obsession_ with change all come from something within him that's…" Armin swallows and continues, "that's going to be problematic in the future. Of course, external factors, like constantly being in the midst of danger, the pull of Eren's emotional growth and withdrawal, and so forth, have a large impact on how quickly the internal change happens."

"Now, I'm no idiot, dear," Carla softly reprimands, "but you're going to have to cut to the chase. I'm an old woman now. It's hard for me to keep up."

Armin has a quiet, bitter laugh. "Sorry. I talk more when I'm nervous." After he scratches the back of his head, he takes in a shaky breath. "Ma'am, I think Eren is dying."

/ /

Jean's nose is greenish-purple and crooked when he walks into Pixis's office. Pixis laughs for much longer than is strictly necessary. Once his laughter is quieter, the old man asks, "Trouble in paradise?"

"There's no goddamn _paradise_."

With that, his boss shrugs and hands his employee a folder. "This is your next target. All I need is for you to keep in one place for three weeks."

He scowls. "That's a long time, even for me. Hostage?"

"Of a sort," Pixis replies. "No one's saying you have to use your powers the whole time. We'll have people on monitoring duty at odd hours, and you can always call for backup." He grins crookedly. "Then again, you have your _partner_."

" _Chief Pixis_ ," Jean growls. The older man throws up his hands and the ash-blonde haired man grumbles. After a moment, he digs in his breast pocket and puts his reading glasses on. "Isn't this way beneath us?"

"I'm trying to give you a break," he hums. "Try being a little grateful."

Suspicious, the younger man mutters, "Why?"

"To sort out your problems at home."

Jean flicks him off on the way out and slams the door.

/ /

Grisha takes a long look at his son from across the kitchen table, grimacing. "I thought you were handling your temper."

"He deserved it."

"You're an _adult_."

"He still deserved it."

The older man sighs. "I thought Jean was your friend."

Eren scowls. "We work together. I _respect_ his work and literally nothing else. His work ethic is for shit—his attitude is worse. This is just his new thing, and I fucking hate it."

"Language, son."

"Whatever."

With a sigh, his father scribbles down a few notes and gestures for Eren to hold out his arm. He does so, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. The older man smiles. "Sympathy pain?"

"Not a chance in hell."

While continuing to run basic medical tests on his son, he keeps chatting. "You should give Jean a chance, Eren."

"Dad." Eren's voice is hard and his eyes narrow.

"You're almost thirty. Why not? Nobody says it's got to be anything serious."

Eren rips his arm away before his father can stick a needle in it to draw blood.

/ /

Levi grimaces at his phone. "Damn."

On the other end, Armin grimaces too. "What should we do? There's no way Eren's going to come out and say something's wrong."

"You're betting on him _noticing_ ," the instructor rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue. "This is a thousand times worse than his stupid meltdown last year."

"I'm aware," the blonde barely keeps his voice level, "which is why I'm try to handle the situation properly this time. We can't just bet on Jean for this kind of thing again."

"Apparently, they're fighting," Levi mutters. "Hell knows if the kid would even try to help the brat."

Armin winces. "Jean means well, I think."

"Listen. I've got a couple friends that used to work for research, but one of 'em is a fucking basket case. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy to trick the piece of shit into their lair, but we've gotta try."

"You really think they can figure out what's going on and help him?"

Levi pauses, staring absently out of his window. "I can't promise jack shit, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing, right?"

/ /

"You want me to what?" Jean cradles the phone, squinting at a recipe through his glasses. Since he's only paying partial attention to Mikasa, he nearly cuts his finger. "Shit!"

"It's not that startling, Jean."

"No, that wasn't about you. Anyways, wouldn't he go willingly? What's the deal?"

Over the phone, she hesitates for a moment before answering. "I don't know. It's just a precaution. Will you help us or not?"

"I mean, sure, anything to keep myself out of danger."

"Jean." Her voice is a razor-sharp warning. "Be serious about this."

"I _am_ serious," he mutters, going back to chopping basil. "You think he's the only one at risk? Besides, what makes you think my word is gonna cut it? Right now, I'm not exactly Eren's favorite person. Well, not that I _ever_ am."

"I don't know," Mikasa answers quietly. "I just thought you… _cared_."

He's silent for a long time before he laughs derisively. "Yeah, well. Guess you'd be wrong, huh."

/ /

The brunette lounges on his instructor's couch in silence, staring out of the window. It's sunny outside, the clouds are drifting by lazily, and his pupils are dilated. For a while, he gets lost in thought. His eyes follow the clouds, waiting for the moment they pass, mouth-half open. He keeps staring, even when the sun comes and whites out his vision.

For that moment, he is at peace. His smile is soft; his daydreams don't turn into terrors. The anger inside him is quiet.

"Eren!" Levi's face comes into his line of sight, purplish from frostbite and scarred with burns. "Fucking hell." He shakes his charge until his pupils shrink and Eren trembles.

"Instructor Levi?" His voice is still distant as he comes back to earth. "I…what?"

"Fix this," he breathes heatedly.

Eren presses his shaking hands to the man's face, crying and biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. The burns recess, but the damage is still visible. With a furrowed brow, he whispers, "How long?"

"Make your question clear, shitty brat," Levi mutters back.

"How long was I…doing this, sir?"

"It started just a bit after you looked out of the window. Maybe fifteen minutes." With a sigh, he reaches out and grabs Eren's shoulder. "What happened?"

"Nothing, sir," Eren answers.

Levi glares. "You expect me to—"

"I mean it," Eren says, a haunted look creeping into his eyes. "I was happy. It was quiet. Nothing tipped me off." Looking down at his trembling hands, he whispers, "I fucked up. I thought…I was finally in control."

"Listen," Levi starts, "I didn't want to tell you this yet—" Before he can finish, Eren is running out of his apartment. "Oy!"

/ /

 _Can't stay, not safe._

He's running, running.

The landscape is hurtling past way too quickly. He vaguely remembers vomiting.

 _Apartment. Safe._

He can't remember putting a key in the door. He probably breaks it.

"Eren?"

 _Jean. Leave, leave, leave!_

"Eren, what the hell. Are you drunk?"

 _No_. _No!_

"Are you okay? Look at me."

 _Can't_.

"Fine, just sit down, alright? I'm calling Mikasa."

 _Don't!_

"What the hell is wrong with you? You sick?"

 _I need to go. I need to go. I need to go!_

"Not like this, you fucking don't. Shit, I think you're running a fever."

 _Don't touch. Bad. Bad._

"Your eyes are all fucked up. Huge pupils. Have you been sitting in the dark?"

 _The sun_. _I need to go._ Magnetism makes his bones heavy and his knees hit the ground and he snarls. _Jean!_

"Not like this you fucking don't."

 _Stop me. Save me. Get away from me. GO! I'm me, I'm me, I'm me_.

"Of course you're you, you huge pain in the ass. Are you aware that you're whispering a bunch of stuff? Speak up."

 _Get out get out get out get out get out—_

"I live here, in case you forgot."

 _GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT—_

"Okay, that is _it_ , I'm knocking you out."

/ /

He wakes up in a dim room that looks more like a dungeon than a hospital. He can hear a few quiet voices in the distance.

"Don't worry," the first says, "I informed our bosses. He's not gonna be on duty for a while, and even I got a couple weeks off."

Jean.

"Damn straight," a deeper voice comments. "You and Mikasa are the only ones that can keep this shithead's brain where it belongs."

Levi.

"Really? I thought you were good at these things." A raspy voice chips in. "Bet you lost control over him for a while and scared him off, ha, ha, ha!"

He doesn't know this person.

"I'll destroy you, glasses."

"You're going to wake Eren up." Mikasa.

A soft laugh follows her warning. "We _do_ need to talk to him." Armin.

Tired of hearing people talk about him, he huffs, "I'm awake." His throat feels raw. It's hard to open his eyes completely—they feel caked and heavy with sleep.

The owner of the voice he hadn't recognized bounces in with a wide grin, looming over him. They get entirely too close into his space, eyes darting over his body like mad, and finally taking his hand.

"Hiya!"

Eren doesn't respond because he's too busy trying to figure out how to ask this person to let go.

"Back off, glasses," Levi snaps. "Nobody wants the first thing they see to be your crazy mug up close. At least introduce yourself."

"Oh, well that's easy enough!" Who Levi calls 'glasses' chirps. "I'm Hanji! Nice to meet you, Eren. I'm here to help!"

Eren casts a deadpan expression at his instructor and blanches.


	2. grit

a/n: And finally, the end of the centrifuge series. I hope you all enjoyed the ride! Thanks much for the kudos and comments, and have a wonderful day! 8)  
 **s:** Eren wavers. Jean is done with his bullshit.

* * *

 ** _Fringe_**

 _ii: grit_

* * *

"How long have you had the dreams?"

"Since I was three or four, probably."

"What triggered them?"

"An accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"…"

"He permanently hospitalized his mother."

"Instructor Levi!"

"Don't lie to this piece of trash. Hanji's trying to help you."

"I see, I see! PTSD, then."

"I was never a soldier, uh…"

"You can call me doctor—or rather, don't. It's stuffy! Just call me Hanji."

"Er, Hanji, then."

"That's a common misconception, Eren! People often think that because a doctor calls it PTSD, it means that the trauma has to stem from the horrors of fighting on the battlefield. Trauma is whatever the mind makes of it, unfortunately. Such a shame that researchers still don't really understand how it works, isn't it?" After the question, Hanji sucks in a deep breath of air and turns sparkling eyes back to him. "Besides, I hear from your friends and Levi here that you've experienced _plenty_ of trauma! Hospitalizing your mother was only the beginning. Your job is another thing entirely. It probably hasn't helped matters at all, firing all of that adrenaline into your system at every turn, and then the _death_ —"

"Doctor Hanji!"

"It's fine, Jean."

" _It's fine_ , he says, Levi! Where on earth do you find them?"

"I swear I'll rip out your vocal cords."

"After I'm done with Eren, you can do whatever you want with me. This is gonna make my career! He's the very epitome of the unknown. I've never studied a power-user like this! Multiple powers— _elemental_ , even!"

"We're all aware, Doctor Hanji."

"Mikasa."

"Do you hear voices?"

"No."

"Aww. Not even one?"

"He said _no_."

"Okay, okay. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your power control?"

"…Zero, apparently."

"Zero! Incredible."

"Somebody needs to teach you what incredible means, glasses."

"Are all of these questions necessary?"

"Of course!" Hanji's eyes burn bright under their glasses. "I can't perform surgery without his history, now can I?"

The room falls dreadfully silent.

/ /

Jean fidgets in the hallway. "I'm not entirely sure that this was a good idea."

Armin and Mikasa grimace in agreement. The shorter man murmurs, "I didn't know that they could do surgery to adjust people's powers."

"It's not exactly legal," Mikasa mutters grimly. "We can't go around telling people about this."

"Yeah, but that Doctor Hanji's not exactly sane," the ashen-blonde haired man says what they've all been thinking. "What if she fucks Eren up past the point of no return?"

"He's already past the point of no return, isn't he?" Armin laughs balefully, earning another grimace from Mikasa and a bewildered glance from Jean. "Sorry. It's true though, isn't it? None of us can deal with this."

"Okay, so he was getting worse. We can all agree on that," Jean starts, leaning against the wall and studying patterns on the floor. "But he just needed, I don't know, psychological help. Maybe pills."

Mikasa fixes him with an incredulous stare. "You're joking, right."

Armin looks lost as well. "Jean, Eren's gone for counseling for years. Even at the Academy, he tried different medicines, but they made him way worse than he was without them. We hated it."

Running a hand over his face, Jean says, "Shit. Sorry, I should have…I don't know. This didn't have to be the only answer."

Riled up, Mikasa snappishly asks, "Can't you think of another reason he might have been off balance, making this worse?"

"Mikasa!" Armin yells.

"Don't you _dare_ try to pin this on me," Jean growls, blood thumping in his ears.

"You don't even _care_ , so it doesn't matter!"

"Not all of us can devote our _lives_ to Eren—"

The door opens and all three of them turn with horrified gazes. "Would you brats kindly _shut the fuck up_? Some of us are trying to get shit done."

At that, they fall silent and slink out of the house while exchanging heated glares.

/ /

His powers are advancing too quickly, Hanji says. He had recently blanked out because his body was just trying to categorize his potential powers. It apparently couldn't do this while he was fully conscious, so it put his cognitive functions in the backseat.

It would be delicate brain surgery, and he'd have to take some experimental drugs to regulate, but Hanji was 65% positive that this would help, and that he'd have quite a bit of control over everything.

There is only one downside.

"The power that's making all of the rest of your powers messed up is your healing power."

Eren's mind races. _The rest of my powers? What? There's only two_. Instead of voicing this concern, he blurts, "No."

Hanji turns around, blinking wide hazel eyes. "No? To the surgery?"

"I can't lose the one thing that…that could help save people." He grasps his head, eyes closed tightly. "I can—I can figure something out—"

Levi slams his foot onto the frame of the sickbed. "Your body put your _brain_ away to deal with this shit. It's not about how much you _want_ to control your powers." Eren flinches at his instructor's words. "By the way, what's this garbage about other powers? He only has two besides healing, glasses."

"Aha! I'm glad you asked!"

Levi groans. "I'm suddenly wishing I hadn't."

"It's only a hypothesis, but remember how I said that your brain was trying to categorize everything, and that's why your meltdown happened? It's gotta be more than a little fire and ice happening in there to knock you out. A fourth power is trying to emerge—you should have seen the signs, right?"

The absent obsession with the sun and the clouds, his pupils blowing out—it's possible. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I knew it!" Hanji shouts, overjoyed. "What kind of power do you think it could be? Do you know what others are lingering underneath the surface—"

"I don't know, Doctor Hanji!" Eren finally snaps, then apologizes breathlessly. "I really don't know."

/ /

"He doesn't want to have the surgery?" Carla asks. "It could be incredible."

Nurse Petra shakes her head. "He's got a difficult choice to make, ma'am." Once she finishes checking the older woman's blood pressure, she says, "Now, let's see your legs."

She swings them over, regardless of the lack of true skin and the burn marks that creep up to her calves. Wobbling a bit, she steadies herself on the rails of the sickbed and coughs. "Nobody here has told him about the cancer?"

"Not a word, Mrs. Jaeger," the auburn-haired nurse nods somberly.

Carla sighs. "Some days I think he knows. As block-headed as he can be, he's not stupid." She thinks about her son rejecting the surgery and laughs. "On second thought, no, he _is_ stupid for turning down the chance of a lifetime."

"Do you know why Eren won't do it?"

"Mm," the older woman hums. "I think I have an idea, but that makes me as happy as it does frustrated." With a sigh, she smiles. "It's hard being a mother."

/ /

" _Why won't you go see your mother?"_

 _Eren is petulant. "I can't."_

" _Why not?"_

" _Because…I did a bad thing. No matter how many times I say sorry, that won't change."_

/ /

 _When he's a teenager, when the words of a classmate incite him, he comes again and again. After a few visits, he tests his powers on his mother. The healing doesn't work. He's horrified. He's depressed._

 _Levi kicks his ass into gear. "Maybe it only works if you do it right away."_

" _You don't know that."_

" _No," the instructor says quietly. "I don't. Instead of wasting your life away on things that_ _ **could**_ _happen, why don't you direct your attention towards things your powers can actually affect?"_

 _Eren looks up hopefully._

/ /

Jean slips into the room and glances at Hanji and Levi. "Let me talk to him alone."

Hanji blinks, ready to open their mouth, but Levi tugs on the doctor's arm and jabs his thumb at the door. The blonde waits a minute or two before speaking.

"You don't want to do it."

Eren clenches his fists in the sheets. "What if—"

"You burn someone half to death and you can't fix it?" He tenses. Jean folds his arms over his chest. "I knew it."

"Stop acting like such a pompous piece of shit," Eren seethes, turning his head sharply. "You're the one who's in the most danger if I lose the power to heal."

"You think I don't _know_ that?" Jean snaps, clenching his fingers against his arms. "You scare me, Eren. Everything about you scares the _hell_ out of me."

"Then get away from me!" The brunette throws his legs over the bed and glares at the blonde with watery eyes. "You were never meant to be this close. Your stupid laws of self-preservation should have made you go away _years_ ago, so why are you still fucking here?!"

"Because—!" Jean chokes for a moment, nearly faltering when Eren stands up and walks closer. "Because we've been through a hell of a lot together. I don't know any better than you do, and as much as I would rather throw myself in front of a goddamn car than admit this, I don't think I'd know what to do without the thrill." Eren's eyes grow wide and he's startled when Jean's arms lunge for his shoulders. "You think I don't care. Everybody thinks I couldn't give less of a shit about you, but I think the idea of you giving up on this surgery – surgery that could save your stupid, useless life and your goddamn sanity – is the stupidest thing I've ever fucking heard!"

"Why are you doing this _now_?" Eren snarls, grabbing Jean by the collar and slamming him against the wall, crying all the while. "Why _now_?!"

"Shut up, how should I know," Jean snarls back, pulling Eren against his chest and scoffing when his voice cracks.

"You're fucking awful," Eren yanks the blonde down by his hair and smashes their lips together. When Jean opens his mouth and kisses back, their teeth crash before their tongues do.

/ /

Jean taps one foot furiously while they're waiting. Armin looks mildly amused. Mikasa looks stoic in general, but her gaze could set the tall blonde on fire.

Finally, Levi is the one to butt in. "We're all impatient here, kid. Calm the fuck down."

Hanji emerges not even an hour later, sweat plastered over their face and a beaming grin thrown at the adults in the hallway. "All done!"

Jean relaxes. The rest of them sigh in relief.

/ /

Soon after Eren comes out of surgery, he visits his mother with teary eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Carla muses softly. "I'm so glad you did it, son."

"I'm still sorry."

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have done anything about it."

"I'm sorry." He clenches her hand and cries and cries, holding back vomit. She clenches back and cries with him this time.

"Never be sorry for being alive."

/ /

The first few weeks after Eren has surgery are difficult. He's still not on call for missions because some days he can't use his powers at all, and some days he has fifteen new ones.

One day, about nine and a half weeks after discharge, Eren bursts into Jean's room with a wide smile (a genuine one, so bright and obscenely rare that the blonde nearly flushes at the sight of it). He proclaims, "I did it! I'm not dead weight anymore."

Jean rolls his eyes because of course he'd been worried about that. When Eren gets close enough, he flicks him in the forehead. "Good for you. How many today?"

"Well, only four." _Only_. "Darkness, Fire, Ice, and Gravity—but that's not the point, it's the seventh day in a row. Doctor Hanji said once I get a week or two of solid control down, I should level out. After next week, I'll have doctorial permission to go back to work."

"You don't say."

That turns Eren's rare grin into a familiar scowl and Jean snickers. "Fuck you."

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

Eren's scowl runs deeper and he punches the blonde. "I thought you were done fooling around."

"It's not a game, Eren," Jean murmurs, suddenly stiflingly nervous. "Not anymore."

At such an admission, the brunette blinks, wildly confused. "What."

In the awkward space, Jean kisses him and Eren keeps sitting, startled. "You know, that would've been a good time to kiss back, or tell me to stop."

"Stop?" Eren inches closer, very tentatively taking the taller man's hand.

"I'm not an ass, man," Jean breathes against his skin, feeling stupid. "If you don't want to, I won't kiss you."

"It's just weird, okay," Eren grumbles.

"I'll wait until it's not weird," Jean promises, leaning in to hug him.

Eren glances up, scowling at him. "What if it takes a long time?"

"I still know how to jerk off, you know." Jean finds that he deserves the responding punch and laughs it off despite the pain. "I don't know. Stop overthinking it. We'll figure something out."

With a furrowed brow, the brunette scoffs into the blonde's shoulder. "You're a moron."

"Chief Shadis says he has something for us to do next week—if you're up to it."

"Better."

"I can take you to that diner you like tomorrow?"

Eren relaxes further into the hug with a good-natured huff. "Better."

Finally, Jean murmurs into Eren's skin. "I can't _believe_ I'm saying this, but I was bored on missions without you."

Eren's laugh rumbles through his chest. "And you were doing so good." After a moment, he runs a hand down Jean's back with a fond sigh. "I thought you wanted to be happy. Have a family. I can't do any of that shit."

"Oh, shut the fuck up. I don't care." He _does_ care, but he just finds that he cares less about losing all that shit when Eren is absently running a hand through his hair.

"I'll probably get you killed."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm aware." Eren bites his ear and Jean laughs. "Feisty."

"Shut up, Jean."

"No promises." After another moment, Jean says, "Well, except that I'm not going anywhere. That means you can't go off by yourself either."

Eren clenches fists against Jean's back. "But you can. Leave by yourself, I mean. If you ever feel like it's too dangerous."

"I won't."

"You're so stupid."

"I'm aware."

"Eren?"

"Don't say anything else. I don't want to hear it."

Jean laces their hands together. "Okay."

They sit like that until the position hurts and then they move so that they can lie down. Since the sun is blazing outside, Eren curtains the room in darkness, growing quiet beside Jean. Jean laughs a bit before attempting to fall asleep.

/ /

They wake up next to each other, quiet and restful and cautious. Nothing is amiss. Nothing's on fire, or encased in ice, or blown to shreds, or cut in pieces.

It is the beginning of something real.


End file.
